Social activists and human rights defenders have denounced the Green Chiapas Foundation before the National Commission for the Prevention against Discrimination (CONAPRED) for having launched a campaign against same-sex marriage.

Two public advertisements were installed on 18 and 19 January Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the state capital of Chiapas, emblazoned with the following words: “No to the legalization of initiatives that contradict the orders of God (abortion, gay marriage, legalization of marijuana, etc.).” On one of the ads comes the signature of the Chiapas Green Foundation AC, led by a magistrate from Chilón, Leonardo Rafael Guirao Aguilar.

The Chiapas delegation from the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Mexico (DDSSER) has condemned the campaign and requested an investigation to come to know the origins of the economic resources used in this campaign. Delegate members claim that this campaign violates human rights and the law, given that the Mexican Constitution prohibits discrimination for sexual discrimination. “Mexico has signed a number of international agreements which commit it to defend the rights of all its citizens,” noted the DDSSER Network.

Ejidatarios of San Sebastián Bachajón, Chilón municipality, have denounced the kidnapping of a youth from the Xanil community in the same ejido. The crime took place on 5 November, when four individuals took Herminio Estrada Gómez, 18 years of age. The ejidatarios who adhere to the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle indicated that “to date they have cut off our contact with him and so we do not know if he is experiencing good [or bad] physical and health conditions; they also refuse to hand him over to the Public Ministry–in case they are accusing him of a crime–but yes they are demanding money for his release.” In recent days, the ejidatarios have been threatened and harassed by officialist ejidal authorities. They have identified several persons as supposed kidnappers and have indicated them as being associated with other violent acts. They mentioned that they “participated in an armed group which displaced our comrades from the control point on 2 February 2011.”

On 25 April, the Chiapas Peace Network, comprised of 10 civil organizations, publicly reported on its findings regarding the situation of the Zapatista support bases (BAEZLN) in San Marcos Avilés, Chilón municipality, following the carrying out of a Civil Mission of Observation and Documentation in this community on 20 and 21 April of this year. The Mission reports that death-threats and threats of rape continue, as do aggressions and robberies directed against Zapatista families. During its stay in the ejido, the caravan experienced “a hostile climate,” and party-members threatened to forcibly removed the observers from their vehicles, warning them that if they did not have “good [conclusions], it will be bad [for you] and blood will run, blood will be spilt.” The official report notes that “there exists an imminent risk that once again (the first time being in 2010) there be a forced displacement [of BAEZLN] by residents of the same ejido who are affiliated with the PRI, PVEM, and PRD. We alert the government of the gravity and urgency of the situation, and call on it to take immediate actions to avoid the irreparable damage to the lives and physical security of the indigenous who pertain to the EZLN.”The Mission met with municipal authorities in Chilón and with governmental representative Nabor Orozco Ferrer. The municipal union representative recognized the displacement and looting of lands from the BAEZLN since 2010, noting that “what is clear is that Zapatistas bought land, but these were taken from them because they did not pay taxes [or for] water and electricity.” Regardless, he denied the existence of a “situation of violence at present.” The governmental delegate in the zone admitted for his part that “there exist political interests behind these acts on the part of some persons who could be provoking conflictivity.”In previous days, the Zapatista Good-Government Council (JBG) which pertains to the Oventic caracol denounced the numerous aggressions directed at EZLN support-bases in San Marcos Avilés, from July 2011 to mid-April of this year. The JBG affirmed that it has “been denouncing all the shameful acts of these party-members who always want to provoke more problems among the indigenous of the same community, organized [as they are] by governors Juan Sabines Guerrero and now Manuel Velasco Coello. Disgracefully, the three levels of official government have done nothing to arrest the injustices and violations of human rights being committed against our comrades.”

On 18 April 2013, the Chiapas Peace Network announced it would carry out a Civil Observation Mission to San Marcos Avilés, Chilón municipality, in the coming days. Its public letter explains that:

“We members of the Peace Network in Chiapas would like to report that on 21 and 22 April 2013, we will carry out a Civil Observation Mission for documentation in the community of San Marcos Avilés, Chilón municipality, toward the end of collecting testimonies following the recent threats of forced displacement directed against Zapatista support bases (BAEZLN) on the part of residents of the same ejido who are affiliated to different political parties. In this sense, we also hope to meet with the mayor of Chilón, Leonardo Rafael Guirao Aguilar, and the delegate for the zone, Nabor Orosco Ferrer. Upon finishing this visit, we will produce a report which we will then present.

The Peace Network in Chiapas was created at the end of 2000. It is a space for reflection and action comprised of 10 civil organizations that maintain a permanent analysis regarding the local and national context, using punctual actions that can be used in light of grave actions, observation missions, or thematic meetings in terms of human rights. We see it as important to carry out this mission and meet with authorities to put an end to the escalation of death-threats and their possible realization, especially taking into consideration that between August and October 2010, 170 BAEZLN persons from the ejido of San Marcos Avilés had already been displaced, and that presently many are living in precarious conditions, since they are displaced from their lands and work, and constantly must face threats to their personal safety.

To national and international human rights organizations, to national and international communication media, to the public, we ask that you remain attentive to whatever may happen in terms of this Mission, and to share the content of the information once it is published.”

On 17 April, adherents to the Other Campaign of the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandona Jungle from San Sebastian Bachajón, Chilón municipality, published a new communique in which they recall their struggle and evaluate the former state administration of Juan Sabines Guerrero. They denounce the impunity of looting and a justice system that serves the State, one that has allowed their ejido to experience “looting of territory and imposition of a control-point at the entrance of the Agua Azul cascades, removed from residents.” They reiterated their desire to resist looting and to free their prisoners Antonio Estrada Estrada, Miguel Vázquez Deara, and Miguel Demeza Jiménez, “victims of the authorities for their lack of capacity and independence to apply the law.” They greeted others, who have also been imprisoned for raising their voice. They recognized Alberto Patishtán Gómez in particular: “With a simple heart, and humble in his words, [he is] a great comrade that they sought to silence with the walls of political prison. He will always be present in our slogans and in the process of our struggle.”

On 24 September 2011, in the community of Guaquitepec, municipality of Chilón, Chiapas, a group of 100 campesinos led by four caciques violently entered the installations pertaining to the project of the Communal Development of the Patron for Mexican Education A.C. According to its press-release the group entered “the Emiliano Zapata bilingual high school, the intercultural school Bartolomé de Las casas, the laboratory for clinical analysis and the communal computer center, there generating a confrontation between the people of the project and the group, with the result that 4 were injured, including 2 of our comrades and 2 on their part. Bey0nd this the schools were partially destroyed, as were the laboratory and nearly the entire computing center.

Subsequently the group directed itself to the home of Don Antonio Jiménez Álvarez and the home of Don Juan Pérez Hernández, principals of the community and promoters of the educational and developmental projects in the region since their founding; they were removed from their homes by force, beaten, and detained coercively until 1am by the invading group, tied up to a post in the central plaza of the community.”

In its most recent communiqué, the Zapatista Good-Government Council (JBG) El camino del futuro, from the caracol La Garrucha, denounced armed attacks on the part of members of the Regional Organization of Coffee-cultivators of Ocosingo (Orcao), whom it describes as “paramilitaries” who are supported by state and municipal police. The denunciation affirms that the aggressors originate from the ejidos Guadalupe Victoria and Las Conchitas (Ocosingo), as well as from Pojcol (Chilón), who have attempted to invade the lands of EZLN support-bases in the autonomous municipality of Francisco Villa.

They detail that on 12 August, groups organized and armed from Orcao fired on support-bases who were going to carry out communal labor in recovered territory. “Orcao men and women from Guadalupe Victoria impeded the pass of a Zapatista comrade, threatening to burn his vehicle with all the possessions he was carrying inside,” claimed the JBG. Another person sought to take film but had his camera taken by the Orcao group. When other Zapatistas approached, the JBG notes that the Orcao member José Alfredo Peñate Gómez too out a .22 caliber pistol and began firing, injuring Manuel Hernández López. At that moment, the Zapatistas chose to retreat. The communiqué notes that a bit later, another vehicle from the autonomous municipality that was carrying more Zapatistas toward their communal plots was also fired upon “by an armed group of Pojco”; the vehicle was hit with two bullets of .22 caliber.

According to the JBG, “On 12 August it was clearly seen that this has been prepared, directed, and supported by the bad governments, because on that day as night fell a state and municipal police car entered with two ambulances that went to Guadalupe Vistoria. We believe that they went to provide more bullets and to support them so that they continue with their death-threats by firing.” The JBG concludes its communiqué by stating that “this is our denunciation and we will be alert and ready for whatever the bad governments want.”